#40 - LA Clippers @ Minnesota Timberwolves

#40 - LA Clippers @ Minnesota Timberwolves

LA Clippers LA Clippers
Minnesota Timberwolves Minnesota Timberwolves
Thursday, January 17, 2013 - 5:00pm
Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
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Game 40!  Almost halfway there.

Clips favored by 5, O/U 193

Game is on TNT.

Allstars will be announced on TNT during the broadcast.

Probable Starters
Eric Bledsoe PG Luke Ridnour
Willie Green SG Alexey Shved
Caron Butler SF Andrei Kirilenko
Blake Griffin PF Dante Cunningham
DeAndre Jordan C Nikola Pekovic

 

 

 

 

 

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CP3 is going to miss the game tonight according to reports............and I'm guessing he probably won't play on Saturday against the Wizards at home either, because it's the Wizards at home.

So, they are probably targeting the game Monday @GS for his return.

T-Wolves have lost 4 in a row, 10 of the last 14 and are 1-5 since Love went down again.

Rubio has just been cleared to start playing 30 mins a night.

The Clippers are 9-1 in nationally televised games this year (the one loss on the road in OT to OKC).

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It seems like Shved has hit the rookie wall.  Like he is gassed after the first 30 games.  Pekovic is really good at putting up numbers.  I hope DJ can slow him down some.  AK47 has been off lately too.  Bledsoe should be able to handle Shved or Ridnour.  Neither one of those guys can guard him.  Rubio still has the injury on his mind and has not gotten back to his old self yet.

 

I would give up the 5 points on this if I were betting it.  Just can't see the TWolves hanging with us unless half our players don't come to play.

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TNT will announce All Star starters in an 6 pm hour-long show that precedes Wolves-Clippers 7 pm tip tonight

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Wolves-Clippers is at 5 PM PST.  All-Star announcements would have to be at 4 PM PST if it is an hour-long show.  Heat - Lakers is at 7:30 PST.

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Clippers1121 wrote:

 

I would give up the 5 points on this if I were betting it.  Just can't see the TWolves hanging with us unless half our players don't come to play.

If the Clips come to play with energy, I agree.  Hopefully they've learned their lesson about coasting through a lesser opponent. Minn. still has some guys left that can play... albeit not when the bench comes out.

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Bled only lasted 3 minutes.

Oh well, Crawford is now our PG, err, 2nd shooting guard.

Ooooh. looks like Wille still has his shooting touch. Two early threes.

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JGlanton wrote:

Bled only lasted 3 minutes.

Oh well, Crawford is now our PG, err, 2nd shooting guard.

Ooooh. looks like Wille still has his shooting touch. Two early threes.

 

          I missed it, why is Bled   out...?  Undecided

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JGlanton wrote:

Bled only lasted 3 minutes.

Oh well, Crawford is now our PG, err, 2nd shooting guard.

Ooooh. looks like Wille still has his shooting touch. Two early threes.

:o WHAT HAPPENED... AN INJURY??!

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Shaliq wrote:

JGlanton wrote:

Bled only lasted 3 minutes.

Oh well, Crawford is now our PG, err, 2nd shooting guard.

Ooooh. looks like Wille still has his shooting touch. Two early threes.

:o WHAT HAPPENED... AN INJURY??!

 

        I'm guessing they just took him out, saving him or something. 

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         I was worried about Odom, that we might have gambled and lose; but Odom has been working real hard and making an impact. 

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early foul trouble

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Bledsoe and Dj are playing like crap today

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Crawford, Bled, and Griffin all making bad decisions in the 2nd quarter.  Early shots, driving into trouble, solo offense, not setting up plays to the inside, and lots of turnovers. We do miss CP3 right now, just getting away with it.  But really, all these guys should know better than to try to do all this solo offense and they look like amateurs some times.  If it happens again in the 2nd half, I'd put Barnes in the group, and/or Willie Green.

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These annuncers are awful...I may need to find a radio to turn Lawler on.

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     Had three Wolves players around Griffin blocking him off the baord, where Barnes slid underneath and got the board.... Griffin does draw a crowd.  !  

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These Clips are either dog-tired or just taking it easy because it's the Wolves.  It's a dangerous path they're on.  Where are the fast breaks?

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That's what we needed. A Barnes injection.

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Turiaf, air balling a free throw...wow

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Twolves are dropping like flies.

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Lo lead the team w 6 assists.

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Rhy1244 wrote:

Twolves are dropping like flies.

 

            If one believed in curses, the Wolves look like a prime candidate.  

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5 T-wolves injured.  0uch.  They are not catching the Lakers...

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And Love is whining The TWolves are not competitive. Maybe if he stayed healthy, Khans franchise would be over .500. And maybe they should invest in a bettet training staff.

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T-Wolves remind me of the Detriot Redwings years ago, when they used to be compose of almost all Russians. They look like CSKA out there.

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Minnesota is severely banged up and the game was sloppy, but can't argue with 3 road wins in 4 days.

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Mistwell wrote:

5 T-wolves injured.  0uch.  They are not catching the Lakers...

??? For 11th spot in the West?

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Ricky Rubio missed two layups about as badly as I have ever seen a professioanl basketball player miss them.  He can't jump at all can he?  Stick a fork in the TWolves.  They are done for this year.  We played bad enough to lose but they didn't have enough offense to take advantage of it.  Too many turnovers.  Only positive is we managed to keep the TWolves in the game so they would not be too embarassed playing so bad at home.  Hope Pekovic and Shved heal quickly and can play again soon.

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Pekovic is out 7-10 days with a quad injury.

We have another game with the T-Wolves on 1/30, 12 days from now.

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I don't fear Pekovic playing against us anymore.  We did a real good job on him last night.  He must put up his big numbers against smaller and overmatched centers on other teams.  He didn't hurt us at all.  It used to be we were so starved for wins that we would love to hear about other teams we are playing having their star players out with injury.  Now we are so good I want them playing to make the games more competitive.

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Clippers1121 wrote:

I don't fear Pekovic playing against us anymore.  We did a real good job on him last night.  He must put up his big numbers against smaller and overmatched centers on other teams.  He didn't hurt us at all.  It used to be we were so starved for wins that we would love to hear about other teams we are playing having their star players out with injury.  Now we are so good I want them playing to make the games more competitive.

It's KLOVE who messes us up, Pekovic just capitalizes from the havoc KLOVE produces on our defense.  Without KLOVE, we don't have to worry about the Wolves.

-_PM

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tullabye wrote:

Mistwell wrote:

5 T-wolves injured.  0uch.  They are not catching the Lakers...

??? For 11th spot in the West?

There are about 5 teams that were vying for the final playoff spot, Minnie used to be one of them, and now there are probably 4, and Minnie is out.

I actually think Dallas has a decent shot at it now as well.  Then again, I think the Rockets may be dropping like a rock.

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I knew Portland would lose at home against the Cavs as soon as I saw how many minutes the Blazers starters racked up against Denver in the overtime loss on Tuesday night.  While the Cavs were in Portland resting.   I don't like the Blazers because of their lack of depth, I don't like the Rockets because I think they have to shoot extremely well from the three to win games.  TWolves are basically done with all their injuries.  I hate to say it but I like the Lakers to finish seventh or even sixth.  They just have too much talent on that team to miss the playoffs this year.

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Not 6th.  I'm not seeing it.  They are too deep in the hole to do that.  7th or 8th is doable though.

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I get the feeling that the Warriors could collapse in the second half and the Lakers may overtake them.  I like the Jazz because of their bigs and their homecourt advantage.  I like Denver too because of their coaching and their bench.  Right now I would pick the Clippers, Thunder, Spurs, Grizzlies, Nuggets, Jazz, Lakers, Warriors to make the playoffs.

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Clippers1121 wrote:

I get the feeling that the Warriors could collapse in the second half and the Lakers may overtake them.  I like the Jazz because of their bigs and their homecourt advantage.  I like Denver too because of their coaching and their bench.  Right now I would pick the Clippers, Thunder, Spurs, Grizzlies, Nuggets, Jazz, Lakers, Warriors to make the playoffs.

An 8 game gap in the loss category? No. 

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http://espn.go.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/gs/golden-state-warriors

 

Warriors have a lot of tough games coming up and a lot of them are on the road.  If the Lakers can stop losing for awhile they can make up a lot of ground quickly.

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New Orleans is also a team to keep an eye on................7-3 in their last 10.

Dallas has won 4 in a row as Dirk rounds back into shape.

Lakers are not catching the Warriors, Lakers won't win enough games the rest of the way to do that, even if GS falls off some.

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Hornets would have to go 7-3 every 10 games for the rest of the season and they would still only have 42 wins.  Probably not enough.  They started off a little too slow.  I do think they will beat the Warriors on Saturday night though.  Hopefully, we beat them again on Monday afternoon.  Spurs will probably beat them tonight.  That would drop them to 23 and 17 in four days with a lot of tough games still in front of them.

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Mistwell wrote:

tullabye wrote:

Mistwell wrote:

5 T-wolves injured.  0uch.  They are not catching the Lakers...

??? For 11th spot in the West?

There are about 5 teams that were vying for the final playoff spot, Minnie used to be one of them, and now there are probably 4, and Minnie is out.

I actually think Dallas has a decent shot at it now as well.  Then again, I think the Rockets may be dropping like a rock.

  I know what you were trying to say but they are not trying to catch the Lakers. At this point they are trying to catch Houston and Utah. I agree that Minnesota will not finish ahead of the Lakers .When and if the Lakers get into a playoff spot and Minnesota is behind them then your statement will make more sense.

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I still like Houston and Utah to make the playoffs over the Lakers.

I don't think the Lakers are going to make it.

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trapp76 wrote:

I still like Houston and Utah to make the playoffs over the Lakers.

I don't think the Lakers are going to make it.

That would make my year.

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Lakers would win more games if they did what we are doing with Odom and Jordan.  Don't play them at the same time and bench the one that can't shoot free throws at the end of the game.  They do that and they would probably be unstoppable.  Of course they would lose Howard in the process since they would be treating him like a role player but what the heck.  Why not play Gasol where he should be played which is in the post.  Lakers biggest problem is they can't effectively play Howard and Gasol at the same time.  They don't solve that and I would agree that they are toast.

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Golden State has lost 4 of their last 5 games and are likely to lose another 4 of their next 5 games without Curry: @San Antonio, @New Orleans, vs. Clippers, vs. OKC, and @Chicago.

Then, when Curry is scheduled to return in 2-3 weeks, they have a tough road trip starting Feb 5: @Houston, @OKC, @Memphis, @Dallas, vs. Houston, @Utah, vs. Phoenix, vs, San Antonio.

I think by the end of February, they'll be very lucky if they're still in the 7th seed. More than likely 8th or lower.

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The Lakers are 17-22. They would have to play .700 ball from here out to win 30 of their next 43 games and end up with 47 wins, which may give them the 8th seed. If we assume they will eventually put it all togeher and start playing very well, then the question is when will they start putting it together? If they start immediately, then the .700 figure holds. If it takes them another week or two or three, then that .700 number become .725, .750, .775.

My bet is they're lottery bound, barring any Kupchak rabit-out-of-hat trick before the trade deadline.

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Dallas is in roughly the same position as the Lakers, except they appear to have put it together already with Nowitzki's return. Tonight's game against OKC will tell us a lot. Should be interesting!

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My guess is that it only takes 44 or 45 wins to make the eight seed.  A lot of teams that are elite are going to inflict a lot of losses on the lower seeded playoff teams this year.  It probably will take fewer wins in the West to make the playoffs.  But I hope the Lakers don't make it like every other self-respecting Clipper fan.   Actually, the Mavs may be a better bet to beat them out of a playoff spot than the Rockets or Blazers.  I could see them getting that eighth spot.  Warriors will have a tough time making it though.  Especially with Curry out.

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I agree it may be around 45 wins to get to the playoffs this year. 

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CorkScrew wrote:

The Lakers are 17-22. They would have to play .700 ball from here out to win 30 of their next 43 games and end up with 47 wins, which may give them the 8th seed. If we assume they will eventually put it all togeher and start playing very well, then the question is when will they start putting it together? If they start immediately, then the .700 figure holds. If it takes them another week or two or three, then that .700 number become .725, .750, .775.

My bet is they're lottery bound, barring any Kupchak rabit-out-of-hat trick before the trade deadline.

 

This provides a frame of reference on past finishes with most examples still having 40-57 games remaining in the season.

 

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Clippers1121 wrote:

My guess is that it only takes 44 or 45 wins to make the eight seed.  A lot of teams that are elite are going to inflict a lot of losses on the lower seeded playoff teams this year.  It probably will take fewer wins in the West to make the playoffs.  But I hope the Lakers don't make it like every other self-respecting Clipper fan.   Actually, the Mavs may be a better bet to beat them out of a playoff spot than the Rockets or Blazers.  I could see them getting that eighth spot.  Warriors will have a tough time making it though.  Especially with Curry out.

Could be even lower, actually. In 2006-2007, the year three WC teams ended up with a record better than .700 (Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio,) Two teams made the 7th and 8th seed with 42 wins (Lakers and Golden State,) and one (Denver) was in the 6th seed with 45 wins.

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